JJ Redick was about to coach his first game in the NBA, a step into a new life that he was sure he wanted for himself. He was no longer the hotshot Duke star, the aimless former lottery pick, the reliable NBA starter, the trusted vet or famous podcaster.
This was something different.
“You know, I think whatever I envisioned in my previous life, that's gone,” Redick said. “This is who I am now. I'm a coach.”
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And as the Lakers coach, he wanted to make one thing more than any other clear. Results would be secondary. Development would be first. A shooter can’t control whether or not an open jumper goes in; they only can control the amount of work they’ve put into giving that shot the best possible chance to go in.
And after his first NBA win, Redick reinforced that idea.
“They’re bought into the fact that this is a process and we’re not going to compete for a championship right now,” Redick said opening night. “We have buy-in from our players, we have buy-in from our coaching staff. That’s all we want right now.”
The Lakers did buy in, even when the season came to a pause due to a historic natural disaster, even when the main characters changed due to a historic superstar swap. They witnessed history when their leader fulfilled a dream to play with his son, they reshaped their culture with one trade and pulled the emergency brake to get out of another. A homegrown star rose; the NBA’s all-time leading scorer moved one step closer to his last basket.
All through it, the big wins, the crushing losses, the high-end drama and the 48 minutes of mundane, the Lakers followed Redick's lead.
But they didn’t compete for a championship — not at this step in their process. Their season ended, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, 15 wins away from the championship they hoped to claim.
And, as soon as the mourning ends, the work erecting the bridge from one win to 16 of them can begin.
For the first time since the Lakers last ended their season as champions, the building process won’t be centered on LeBron James. They’ll have a summer to put the right pieces around a new focal point in Luka Doncic, the 26-year-old future of the franchise.
That search is expected to start in the middle, where the Lakers will look to add a center to pair with one of the NBA’s top passers. The Lakers already tipped their hand on this midseason when they followed up the Doncic deal by agreeing to trade a first-round pick and Dalton Knecht to Charlotte for Mark Williams.
But the Lakers didn’t pass Williams’ physical with the team, people with knowledge of the decision but not authorized to speak publicly pointing to knee and lower leg concerns as the reasons. Some people around the NBA simply wondered if the Lakers got cold feet. Others questioned the fit in the first place.
Regardless, the Lakers are expected to go on the hunt to upgrade the position, and again, will have their 2031 first-round pick and Knecht as the carrots to try and land one. A name like Brooklyn center Nicolas Claxton will certainly be linked to the Lakers.
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Dorian Finney-Smith, about to be 32, has become a favorite in the locker room. He has a player option for $15.3 million and could be looking for his last significant long-term deal.
Doncic and the Lakers will likely have extension conversations with him being eligible for one in August. Austin Reaves is also eligible for an extension that could be worth up to $90 million over four years, but Reaves is expected to garner significant interest for much more money when he can become an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
And there’s James, who can opt out of the last year of his contract to restructure his deal. And, obviously, at this stage of his career, retirement gets closer with every day, with only James knowing for sure where that road ends.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
